US Producer Prices Unexpectedly Fall, Dragged Down by Energy
US wholesale prices unexpectedly fell in March, restrained by energy costs and adding to evidence of tame inflation leading up to a wave a tariffs.
The producer price index fell 0.4% from a month earlier following a revised 0.1% gain in February, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.2% gain.
Excluding food and energy, a measure of underlying wholesale inflation, the PPI eased 0.1%, compared with expectations for a 0.3% gain.
The figures follow a BLS report Thursday that showed consumer prices fell last month for the first time since 2020. However, economists expect inflation to accelerate over the remainder of the year as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imported goods filter through into higher prices for businesses and households.
Source: Bloomberg
